The orange shore boat idled past several moored tankers awaiting admittance to the harbor, and once past the breakwater, surged ahead, leaving a phosphorescent froth in its wake. Inside the tender, the last of the day’s stragglers huddled together on the benches, summoned by the big ship’s warning horn blasts – the signal that it would soon be under way to Varna, Bulgaria, arriving in time for breakfast. Spray shot skyward from the tender’s bow as the chop increased, and the passengers gripped the edge of the bench for support.
The pilot of the craft made an announcement over the loudspeaker, first in Russian, then in English and, finally, in Greek, reassuring the group that they would reach the ship in a few more minutes and to stay seated until they were moored alongside. An Odessa regular, the Lilliana was a cruise veteran of the Black Sea, Cyprus flagged, at the end of her service as she neared forty years of age. The next season would be her last, and then she would be scrapped, replaced by a prettier face already being readied in South Korea.
One of the passengers, a man in his late thirties with a sickly complexion and hollow eyes, shifted on the hard seat, his stuffed backpack at his feet. Unlike the rest of the group, who were warmed by the abundant flow of beer and shots of the local firewater, he remained serious, his attention fixed on the scuffed toes of his black boots. The woman next to him leaned instinctively away as the shore boat rocked along its course, repulsed by an odor like sour milk rising from his clothes.
The tender eased closer to the Lilliana, five hundred and eighty feet of slow boat crammed with budget tourists, most of them Greek and Italian on this trip. The engine revs slowed as the pilot throttled back, and a crewman standing on the ship’s gangplank shined a handheld spotlight at the approaching vessel. Security had been heightened recently, and the crews of visiting ships had been advised to maintain vigilance – although against what, the Ukrainian port authority had failed to define.
The shore boat hit a particularly steep swell, and the travelers gasped as the hull bounced over the breaking crest and slammed into the trough. The sallow passenger’s hand moved to his backpack to stabilize it, a frown of annoyance flashing across his face, and his fingers wrapped around one of the nylon straps. The woman glanced at his grubby hands, with their filthy, ragged nails, and quickly looked away.
Another wave jostled the tender as it maneuvered nearer the Lilliana, and the man coughed hard, the sound wet and unhealthy. He pulled a frayed cloth handkerchief from his jacket pocket and raised it to his mouth. His breath wheezed as he inhaled, and then his shoulders shuddered and he was seized by a coughing fit, the effort nearly doubling him over as the tender pulled alongside the gangplank and two waiting crewmen tossed lines around the boat’s cleats and secured it. The woman snuck another look at the thin passenger and grimaced at the bright red blood that stained the patch of fabric in his hand.
“Are you all right?” she asked in Greek, with genuine concern in her voice.
The man looked at her uncomprehendingly. She tried again, this time pantomiming, pointing to him and shrugging with a compassionate expression.
“Ah, da, da,” he said, his Russian accent thick, waving away her concern and pocketing the stained handkerchief.
The tender’s big diesel engines quieted to an idle, and the pilot announced that the passengers could prepare to disembark. Everyone stood unsteadily as the smaller vessel rocked beside the cruise ship. The Lilliana strained at its anchor rode with each rolling swell. Normally the large vessel would have docked in the harbor, but all the spaces were occupied; mechanical problems had kept several older ships past their scheduled departure times, leaving the Lilliana to battle the elements outside of the breakwater’s shelter. The afternoon had fortunately been mild, but now, as the breeze increased with the fall of night, the seas were unpleasantly choppy.
The pilot reached for a handle and released the companionway hatch. Crewmen helped the passengers step from the smaller boat and directed them toward the ramp, where several Ukrainian soldiers waited at the base to perform an unexpected spot check of their documents. The thin man saw the soldiers just as he reached the companionway door, and he froze, his backpack clutched to his chest.
The woman nearly ran into him as he blocked the passageway, and the pilot called out to him, annoyed. “Keep moving. I don’t want to be here all night.”
One of the soldiers looked in the orange tender’s direction, his interest drawn by the commotion as two of the crewmen urged the motionless passenger forward. His stare met the thin man’s, and he took a step forward as he called out a warning to his companion. The sickly passenger closed his eyes as the soldier approached, and with a muttered prayer, extracted a small wireless transmitter and depressed its sole button.